Archives for April 2011

My sweet church here in Nashville started a children’s ministry a few months ago, and I have been blessed to get to teach some precious kids every few weeks. We spend a large amount of time on learning the verse for the week. I think teaching kids to internalize Scripture is of utmost importance and is a building block for a strong foundation grounded in the Word. Here are some ways to make Scripture memory fun:

1. Always write the verse on a piece of colored construction paper or posterboard. Visual learners need to see it. The more fun it is, the better!

2. Have kids stand in front of the poster (getting them up and moving to memorize the verse helps those kinesthetic learners… and makes it stand out from the rest of the lesson). Then, have them read the verse 4-5 times in different voices. Here are some examples: really quietly, really country, with a British accent, like they are under water (keep mouth in a bubble shape the whole time), while sticking out their tongue the whole time, etc.

3. Cut up the verse word by word. Have groups of 2-4 arrange it correctly. If you have a large class, you can divide them into groups and have them race.

4. Have kids line up across the room in a straight line (one behind the other). Give the first kid a white board marker. Have him run to the white board and write the first word on the board. He then will pass the marker to the next kid, who will run and write the next word on the board. Have them compete against their best time by doing the relay a few different times. (You also can do the verbally without writing, having each kid say one word. It gets confusing and really fun quickly, as kids accidentally say two words instead of one, etc)

5. Designate one area of the room to be where verse memorization happens. We call ours the “Memorization Corner.” It sounds corny, but kids LOVE it. Each week, we journey to the memorization corner and do something fun to remember the verse. My personal favorite is to have the kids make up motions to go with the verse to help them remember it. The bigger and more exaggerated the motions, the better.

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase before… “Leaders are readers.” Cheesy? Perhaps. But I believe it to be absolutely true. Reading leads to knowledge, can challenge your way of thinking and expose you to a wellspring of ideas.

Bottom line: for a society that is changing faster and faster each day, it’s critical that leaders are reading.

If you’re not learning on a regular basis, the rest of the world will move on without you… rendering your business, organization or ministry ineffective and irrelevant. You may squeeze by without reading and “doing what you’ve always done,” but you sure won’t be making the impact that you could make.

So… you know to read and read and read. But then what? How do you apply what you’ve learned?

I asked JE and Lance, two of the best leaders out there, to offer some practical ideas on putting to practice things that they learn. In a nutshell, here’s what they said:

Apply it… Directly (if you can) or “theoretically.” If you’re not in a position currently to apply what you’re learning, develop a hypothetical situation in your mind and apply it there. Never know when that situation might arise in the future.

Outline and highlight it… You can even do this with most e-readers! This serves as a great reference tool when different leadership situations crop up.

Write it down… If you read something that really sticks out to you, write it down on a sticky note and post it in a conspicuous place!

Find places to talk about it… Nothing helps you remember something better than teaching or sharing that information you’ve learned. Talk about it with your co-workers and friends!

((My one practical idea…err plug…: get an eReader or an iPad! The books are typically cheaper, it’s lightweight and it’s all there — at your fingertips!))

Two more nuggets of wisdom I learned from those conversations:

“Leadership is not a destination but a journey. I want to learn something new every day and then find a way to implement it.” – Lance

“The difference between school and the real world is that there isn’t a test at the end of the semester… and nobody cares what you did or didn’t read….so that is what makes it a discipline and what makes you have to figure out what will work for YOU.”
– JE

For the first time ever… CentriKid Camps…live from the web! We are excited about the opportunity to bring CentriKid Camps Worship to your living room on July 27 and July 28. This will be an awesome time for you to show your friends in children’s ministry what CentriKid Camps Worship looks like! We have a lot of other fun surprises in store for this live streaming event, so you’ll want to mark these dates on your calendar. Whether you watch just one night or if you can catch both, you won’t want to miss this! Click Here for more info.

Camp is right around the corner! I’m sure you are getting forms notarized, finalizing travel plans, figuring out where to eat lunch on the way to camp, and asking parents if they want to purchase a camp DVD… but during all that craziness, don’t forget about our May 1 Deadline!

All cancellations made after May 1 will incur an additional $50.00 fee for each person dropped. When cancellations occur, deposits cannot be applied toward balance due. So, if you need to lower your numbers for camp… make sure to give us a call or take care of it online before May 1.